Rabbi leading hardline Jerusalem Faction dies at 79

Rabbi Asher Deutsch, a leader of the radical ultra-Orthodox group Jerusalem Faction, which has led protests against attempts to draft religious men into army service, has died, Hebrew-language media reports.

The Jerusalem Faction, an extremist ultra-Orthodox group with some 60,000 members, is considered among the most conservative of Haredi factions. It regularly demonstrates raucously against enlistment of yeshiva students.

Deutsch, who had been unwell for some time, was widely considered the leader of the Jerusalem Faction, though he reportedly opposed hardline tactics adopted by sect’s more extreme wing headed by Rabbi Zvi Friedman, including violent clashes with police and vows to choose death over serving in the army.

The Bnei Brak native, who also headed the Ponevezh Yeshiva, had spent the last year holding meetings with figures from across the political spectrum in a bid to find a way to legislate the exemptions from the military draft that have been enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox community, the Kikar Hashabbat website reports.